There are geologists who can pick up a rock and say, 'Yes, there's oil under there.' A geologist who has been studying those kinds of rocks for 10 or 20 years is able to make that pronouncement.
Christopher AlexanderEveryone is aware that most of the built environment today lacks a natural order, an order which presents itself very strongly in places that were built centuries ago
Christopher AlexanderTo work our way towards a shared language once again, we must first learn how to discover patterns which are deep, and capable of generating life.
Christopher AlexanderMost of the wonderful places in the world were not made by architects but by the people.
Christopher AlexanderAll matter/space has some degree of "self" in it, and this self, or anyway some aspect of the personal, is something which infuses all matter/space and everything we know as matter but now think to be mechanical.
Christopher AlexanderIt is not possible to make great buildings, or great towns, beautiful places, places where you feel yourself, places where you feel alive, except by following this way. And, as you will see, this way will lead anyone who looks for it to buildings which are themselves as ancient in their form, as the trees and hills, and as our faces are.
Christopher Alexander